Past empirical evidence and current models indicate that climate regime shifts occur in the Arctic at 5- to 7- year intervals. These large-scale phenomena are accompanied by variations in physical characteristics such as sea ice extent and formation/melting rates, water temperatures, and river-runoff -- processes that can strongly affect Arctic marginal seas and the ecological dynamics of organisms. Little is known about the specific bio-physical links that relate atmospheric forcing to marine ecosystems or the inter-regional pattern of ecosystem responses.
Using a comparative approach with historical data from the Bering and Barents Seas, we examine the spatial and temporal patterns of benthic community structure in relation to past decadal-scale climatic variability. We link variations in benthic communities to specific Arctic climatic phenomena via physical variables directly influencing the ecological processes of the benthos. Comparing community responses in two important marginal seas on opposite sides of the Arctic basin (Bering/Chukchi and Barents Seas) allows inferences as to the possible trajectories of ecosystem shifts in response to climate change and whether benthic ecosystem responses associated are general (i.e. large-scale, circumpolar Arctic) or region-specific.